The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World examines Judaism in Palestine throughout the Hellenistic period, from Alexander the Great's conquest in 334BC to its capture by the Arabs in AD 636. Under the Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy which Hellenism brought, Judaism developed far beyond its biblical origins into a form which was to influence European history from the Middle ages to the present day. The book focuses particularly on the social, economic and religious concerns of this period, and the political status of the Jews as both active agents and passive victims of history.
The author provides a straightforward chronological survey of this important period through analysis and interpretation of the existing sources. With its accessible style and explanation of technical terms, the book provides a useful introduction to students and anybody with an interest in post-biblical Judaism.

The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World examines Judaism in Palestine throughout the Hellenistic period, from Alexander the Great's conquest in 334BC to its capture by the Arabs in AD 636. Under the Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy which Hellenism brought, Judaism developed far beyond its biblical origins into a form which was to influence European history from the Middle ages to the present day. The book focuses particularly on the social, economic and religious concerns of this period, and the political status of the Jews as both active agents and passive victims of history.
The author provides a straightforward chronological survey of this important period through analysis and interpretation of the existing sources. With its accessible style and explanation of technical terms, the book provides a useful introduction to students and anybody with an interest in post-biblical Judaism.

The period chosen for this study is that represented by the global domination of Hellenism, from the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great in the second half of the 4th century BC until the seizure of the land by the Arabs in the 7th century AD. In the encounter with Hellenism which confronted the Jews of Palestine in the form of Greek, Roman and finally Christian supremacy, a Judaism developed which had far outgrown its biblical origins and which was to influence the history of Europe from the Middle Ages to present day. This text examines the political history of the Jewish people in Palestine in terms of political activity and more particularly social, economics and religious circumstances. The Jews of antiquity are presented as both the subject and the object of history as they attempt to achieve their political and social goals in a variety of changing circumstances.

Scattered throughout the Talmud, the founding document of rabbinic Judaism in late antiquity, can be found quite a few references to Jesus--and they're not flattering. In this lucid, richly detailed, and accessible book, Peter Schafer examines how the rabbis of the Talmud read, understood, and used the New Testament Jesus narrative to assert, ultimately, Judaism's superiority over Christianity.

The Talmudic stories make fun of Jesus' birth from a virgin, fervently contest his claim to be the Messiah and Son of God, and maintain that he was rightfully executed as a blasphemer and idolater. They subvert the Christian idea of Jesus' resurrection and insist he got the punishment he deserved in hell--and that a similar fate awaits his followers.

Schafer contends that these stories betray a remarkable familiarity with the Gospels--especially Matthew and John--and represent a deliberate and sophisticated anti-Christian polemic that parodies the New Testament narratives. He carefully distinguishes between Babylonian and Palestinian sources, arguing that the rabbis' proud and self-confident countermessage to that of the evangelists was possible only in the unique historical setting of Persian Babylonia, in a Jewish community that lived in relative freedom. The same could not be said of Roman and Byzantine Palestine, where the Christians aggressively consolidated their political power and the Jews therefore suffered.

A departure from past scholarship, which has played down the stories as unreliable distortions of the historical Jesus, "Jesus in the Talmud" posits a much more deliberate agenda behind these narratives."

A book that challenges our most basic assumptions about Judeo-Christian monotheism Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. Two Gods in Heaven reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by rabbis and Jewish mystics in the early centuries of the common era and casting Judaism's relationship with Christianity in an entirely different light. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of ancient sources that have received little attention until now, Peter Schafer demonstrates how the Jews of the pre-Christian Second Temple period had various names for a second heavenly power-such as Son of Man, Son of the Most High, and Firstborn before All Creation. He traces the development of the concept from the Son of Man vision in the biblical book of Daniel to the Qumran literature, the Ethiopic book of Enoch, and the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the picture changes drastically. While the early Christians of the New Testament took up the idea and developed it further, their Jewish contemporaries were divided. Most rejected the second god, but some-particularly the Jews of Babylonia and the writers of early Jewish mysticism-revived the ancient Jewish notion of two gods in heaven. Describing how early Christianity and certain strands of rabbinic Judaism competed for ownership of a second god to the creator, this boldly argued and elegantly written book radically transforms our understanding of Judeo-Christian monotheism.

In late antiquity, as Christianity emerged from Judaism, it was not only the new religion that was being influenced by the old. The rise and revolutionary challenge of Christianity also had a profound influence on rabbinic Judaism, which was itself just emerging and, like Christianity, trying to shape its own identity. In "The Jewish Jesus," Peter Schafer reveals the crucial ways in which various Jewish heresies, including Christianity, affected the development of rabbinic Judaism. He even shows that some of the ideas that the rabbis appropriated from Christianity were actually reappropriated Jewish ideas. The result is a demonstration of the deep mutual influence between the sister religions, one that calls into question hard and fast distinctions between orthodoxy and heresy, and even Judaism and Christianity, during the first centuries CE."

In late antiquity, as Christianity emerged from Judaism, it was not only the new religion that was being influenced by the old. The rise and revolutionary challenge of Christianity also had a profound influence on rabbinic Judaism, which was itself just emerging and, like Christianity, trying to shape its own identity. In "The Jewish Jesus," Peter Schafer reveals the crucial ways in which various Jewish heresies, including Christianity, affected the development of rabbinic Judaism. He even shows that some of the ideas that the rabbis appropriated from Christianity were actually reappropriated Jewish ideas. The result is a demonstration of the deep mutual influence between the sister religions, one that calls into question hard and fast distinctions between orthodoxy and heresy, and even Judaism and Christianity, during the first centuries CE."

"The Origins of Jewish Mysticism" offers the first in-depth look at the history of Jewish mysticism from the book of Ezekiel to the Merkavah mysticism of late antiquity. The Merkavah movement is widely recognized as the first full-fledged expression of Jewish mysticism, one that had important ramifications for classical rabbinic Judaism and the emergence of the Kabbalah in twelfth-century Europe. Yet until now, the origins and development of still earlier forms of Jewish mysticism have been largely overlooked.

In this book, Peter Schafer sheds new light on Ezekiel's tantalizing vision, the apocalyptic literature of Enoch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo, the rabbinical writings of the Talmudic period, and the esotericism of the Merkavah mystics. Schafer questions whether we can accurately speak of Jewish mysticism as a uniform, coherent phenomenon with origins in Judaism's mythical past. Rather than imposing preconceived notions about "mysticism" on a great variety of writings that arose from different cultural, religious, and historical settings, he reveals what these writings seek to tell us about the age-old human desire to get close to and communicate with God."

In this beautifully realized study, Peter Schafer investigates the origins of a female manifestation of God in Jewish mysticism. The search itself is a fascinating exploration of the idea of a feminine divinity. And Schafer's surprising but persuasive conclusions yield deeper understanding of the complex but frequently intimate relationship between Christianity and Judaism--and of the development of religious concepts more generally.

Toward the end of the twelfth century, a small book titled the Bahir (Light) appeared in Provence. The first document of Judaism's emerging kabbalistic movement, it introduced a completely new view of God, one that included a divine potency that was essentially female. This female divinity was portrayed both as a mediator between Jews and God and as part of the Godhead itself. Examining Judaic history from the biblical Wisdom tradition to the Middle Ages, Schafer finds some precedents for the Kabbalah's feminine divinity. But he cannot account for her forceful appearance in twelfth-century southern France without reference to the immediate Christian environment, particularly the flourishing veneration of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, twelfth-century Jews and Christians were simultaneously rediscovering the feminine as an aspect of the Godhead after having abandoned it in favor of either an abstract, disembodied God or an exclusively male one.

In proposing that the medieval cult of Mary--rather than eastern Gnosticism--is the appropriate framework for understanding the feminine elements in Jewish mysticism, "Mirror of His Beauty" represents a sea change in Kabbalah and Jewish-Christian cultural studies. It shifts our attention from the Byzantine East to the Latin Christian West. And in contrast to histories that treat the development of Judaism and Christianity in isolation, it leads us to a fuller understanding of Jews and Christians living in proximity, aware of each other."

One of the most controversial books in history, Toledot Yeshu recounts the life story of Jesus from a negative and anti-Christian perspective. It ascribes to Jesus an illegitimate birth, a theft of the Ineffable Name of God, heretical activities, and, finally, a disgraceful death. Perhaps for centuries, the Toledot Yeshu circulated orally until it coalesced into various literary forms. Although the dates of these written compositions remain obscure, some early hints of a Jewish counter-history of Jesus can be found in the works of pagan and Christian authors of Late Antiquity, such as Celsus, Justin, and Tertullian. In the Middle Ages, the book became the object and tool of a most acrimonious controversy. Jews, Christians, and atheists - such as Ibn Shaprut, Luther, and Voltaire - quoted and commented on Toledot Yeshu, trying to disprove the beliefs of their opponents and revealing their own prejudices. Due to the offensive nature of the book, scholars have until recently paid little attention to Toledot Yeshu . In 2007, Peter Schafer launched a project at Princeton University to prepare a scholarly edition with translation and commentary based on all the available manuscripts (about 150). Along with this project, Peter Schafer, Michael Meerson, and Yaacov Deutsch organized an international conference, attended by the leading scholars of the subject, to discuss the present state of research. The conference contributions, published in this volume, mark a new stage in Toledot Yeshu research.

Genesis Rabbah, the earliest rabbinic commentary on Genesis, was composed in Roman Palestine around the 5th century CE. In this volume, an international team of scholars explores the literary formation and textual transmission of this work in late antiquity, and the historical, cultural, religious, and political contexts from which it emerged. Some essays study the multi-layered nature of this text, the relationship of the traditions within the collection to one another and to other compositions, its redaction, its manuscript history, and the interpretive strategies it applies to biblical verses. Other essays explore how the midrash engages with Greco-Roman literature, competing theological and exegetical ideas found in contemporary Christian works, and other genres of Jewish literature. The collection aims to advance scholarly conversations about the classical rabbinic corpus; midrash; religions of late antiquity; interactions between Jews, Christians, and others in the Greco-Roman world; and the reception of Genesis Rabbah in medieval and modern times.

Over the past 30 years, scholars of early Jewish mysticism have, with increasing confidence, located the initial formation of Hekhalot literature in Byzantine Palestine and Sasanian or early Islamic Babylonia (ca. 500-900 C.E.), rather than at the time of the Mishnah, Tosefta, early Midrashim, or Palestinian Talmud (ca. 100-400 C.E.). This advance has primarily been achieved through major gains in our understanding of the dynamic and highly flexible processes of composition, redaction, and transmission that produced the Hekhalot texts as we know them today. These gains have been coupled with greater appreciation of the complex relationships between Hekhalot writings and the variegated Jewish literary culture of late antiquity, both within and beyond the boundaries of the rabbinic movement. Yet important questions remain regarding the specific cultural contexts and institutional settings out of which the various strands of Hekhalot literature emerged as well as the multiple trajectories of use and appropriation they subsequently travelled. In the present volume, an international team of experts explores-from a variety of disciplinary perspectives (e.g. linguistics, ritual and gender studies, intellectual history)-the literary formation, cultural meanings, religious functions, and textual transmission of Hekhalot literature.

This book provides the reader for the first time with a history of pre-kabbalistic Jewish mysticism. It covers the period from the Hebrew Bible (Ezekiel) up to Merkavah mysticism, the first full-fledged mystical movement in late antiquity. Many scholars have dealt with Merkavah mysticism proper and its ramifications for classical rabbinic Judaism, but very few have paid full attention to the evidence of the Hebrew Bible, the apocalyptic literature, Qumran, and Philo. It is this gap between the Hebrew Bible and Merkavah mysticism that Peter Schafer wishes to fill in a systematic and reflective manner. In addressing the question of the origins of Jewish mysticism, he asks whether we can rightfully and sensibly speak of Jewish mysticism as a uniform and coherent phenomenon that started some time in the mythical past of the Hebrew Bible and later developed into what would become Merkavah mysticism and ultimately the Kabbalah. Instead of imposing a preconceived notion of "mysticism" on a great variety of relevant literatures, belonging to different communities at different times and on different places, the author proceeds heuristically and asks what these literatures wish to convey about the age-old human desire to get close to and communicate with God. Peter Schafer has dedicated much of his scholarly life to the history of Jewish mysticism. The Origins of Jewish Mysticism summarizes his views in an accessible way, directed at specialists as well as at a broader audience.

Analyzing and managing costs is crucial for business success. Industrial, service, and non-profit companies will not be successful in the long-term if they do not understand their costs.This textbook introduces the basic concepts and current developments in cost accounting. The book features numerous anecdotal examples from a wide range of industries, case studies, Microsoft Excel examples, and exercises to ensure a sustainable learning success.

Diplomarbeit aus dem Jahr 1997 im Fachbereich BWL - Marketing, Unternehmenskommunikation, CRM, Marktforschung, Social Media, Note: 1,7, AKAD-Fachhochschule Pinneberg (ehem. Rendsburg) (Betriebswirtschaft), Veranstaltung: Dipl.-Kfm. Georg Mohr, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Inhaltsangabe: Inhaltsverzeichnis: Inhaltsverzeichnis: Abkurzungsverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Einfuhrendes Zitat 1Einleitung 1.1Problemstellung 1.2Ziel und Aufbau der Arbeit 2Grundlagen 2.1Marketingkonzept 2.1.1Begriff und Bedeutung 2.1.2Konzeptionsebenen 2.2Kundenzufriedenheit 2.2.1Begriff 2.2.2Elemente der Kundenzufriedenheit 2.2.3Messung von Kundenzufriedenheit 2.2.4Zufriedenheitsforschung 3Bedeutung der Kundenzufriedenheit fur das Kreditinstitut 3.1Kundenorientierung als Basis der Kundenzufriedenheit 3.1.1Unternehmensphilosophie 3.1.2Beziehungsmanagement 3.2.Zusammmenhang von Kundenzufriedenheit und Kundenverhalten 3.2.1Kundenbindung 3.2.2Cross-Selling 3.2.3Mund-zu-Mund-Kommunikation 3.3Internes Marketing 3.3.1Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit und Kundenzufriedenheit 3.3.2Zielgerichtete Mitarbeiterfuhrung 3.4Kundenzufriedenheitsorientiertes Qualitatsmanagement 3.4.1Dienstleistungsqualitat 3.4.2Normenreihe DIN-EN-ISO-9000 ff. 4Losungsansatze zur Verbesserung der Kundenzufriedenheit 4.1Kundendialog 4.1.1Kundenkonferenz 4.1.2Kundenbefragung 4.2Kundensegmentierung 4.2.1Jugendmarketing 4.2.2Seniorenmarketing 4.3Direktmarketing 4.3.1Data-Base-Marketing 4.3.2Direct-Mailing 4.3.3Telefonmarketing 4.4Beschwerdemanagement 4.4.1Beschwerdebegriff 4.4.2Bedeutung 4.4.3Aufgaben 4.4.4Chancen 5Schlussbetrachtung und Ausblick 5.1Zusammenfassung 5.2Offene Probleme und Ausblick Anhang Literaturverzeichnis Bei Interesse senden wir Ihnen gerne kostenlos und unverbindlich die Einleitung und einige Seiten der Studie als Textprobe zu. Bitte fordern Sie die Unterlagen unter [email protected], per Fax unter 040-655 99 222 oder telefonisch unter 040-655 99 20 an

This volume offers an extensive collection of cutting-edge articles in Jewish studies and related areas that celebrate Peter Schafer and take their lead from his groundbreaking scholarship. The collection lays particular emphasis on the dynamics of continuity and change in Jewish society, culture, and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world, while also tracing how in the course of the medieval and early modern periods Jews, Christians, and Muslims came to participate in-and contest-shared literary, intellectual, and religious traditions. Taken together, this collection reflects the startling breadth of Schafer's own research interests as well as the lasting impact of his contributions to the academic study of Jewish literature and history, which have made visible the inner diversity of Judaism and stressed the essential place of Jewish studies within the humanities. Contributors: Mika Ahuvia, Philip Alexander, Adam H. Becker, Gideon Bohak, Ra'anan Boustan, Daniel Boyarin, Shaye J. D. Cohen, Joseph Dan, Nicholas de Lange, Yaacob Dweck, Werner Eck, Rainer Enskat, Michael Fishbane, Steven D. Fraade, Carlos Fraenkel, John Gager, Mark Geller, David Goodblatt, Judith Hauptman, Klaus Herrmann, Catherine Hezser, Martha Himmelfarb, Ulrike Hirschfelder, William Horbury, Tal Ilan, Eduard Iricinschi, Martin Jacobs, William Chester Jordan, Richard Kalmin, Sarit Kattan Gribetz, David Kraemer, Peter Kuhn, Annelies Kuyt, Hayim Lapin, Matthias Lehmann, Andreas Lehnardt, Reimund Leicht, Lee Levine, Hanna Liss, Michael Meerson, Doron Mendels, Leib Moscovitz, Gerold Necker, Maren R. Niehoff, Aharon Oppenheimer, Elaine Pagels, Tessa Rajak, Bill Rebiger, Annette Yoshiko Reed, Gottfried Reeg, Ronen Reichman, Stefan C. Reif, Dorothea M. Salzer, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Daniel R. Schwartz, Joshua Schwartz, Seth Schwartz, Yaacov Shavit, Gunter Stemberger, David Stern, Michael D. Swartz, Giuseppe Veltri, Moulie Vidas, Elliot R. Wolfson, Azzan Yadin-Israel, Holger Zellentin

Joseph Dan, the Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah Emeritus at the Hebrew University and long-time Professor of Jewish Studies at the Freie Universitat Berlin, is one of the most influential figures in the fields of Jewish mystical thought, homiletical and ethical literature, modern Messianism and Hasidism, and contemporary 'belles-lettres'. His studies of the diverse aspects of Jewish creativity, with close attention to the dialectics of religious-cultural continuity versus historical innovation, provide a comprehensive overview of the complex history of Jewish thought and its multiple creative faces. It is precisely for this reason, to honor Joseph Dan's multifaceted research, that his many colleagues, students, and friends, scattered among universities around the world, have decided to focus their contributions in this Festschrift on the continuing process of creation and re-creation in Jewish thought throughout the centuries. Contributors: Philip Alexander, Dan Ben-Amos, Peter Schafer, Margarete Schluter, Bernard McGinn, Klaus Herrmann, Herbert Davidson, Annelies Kuyt, Haym Soloveitchik, Eli Yassif, Gerold Necker, Marc Saperstein, Giuseppe Veltri, Aviezer Ravitzky, Avinoam Rosenak, Kimmy Caplan, Saverio Campanini, Eric Jacobson, Yair Zakovitch, Rachel Elior, David Weiss Halivni, Avigdor Shinan, Avraham Grossman, Giulio Busi, Moshe Hallamish, Chava Turniansky, Jacob Elbaum, Hagit Matras, Joseph Hacker, Raya Haran, Arnold J. Band, Hamutal Bar Yosef, Miri Kubovy, Naama ben Shahar.

This third volume, which offers further insights into the most important source of late antique Judaism, the Talmud Yerushalmi, in relation to its cultural context, marks another step in a research project on the Talmud Yerushalmi initiated by the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Free University (Berlin) in 1994 and concluded by a conference held at Princeton University in November 2001. This volume focuses on a wide range of topics such as gender studies, aspects of everyday life, Roman festivals, magic etc., hereby reflecting on the methodological problems inherent in intercultural studies. Thus, this collection of articles could also serve as a model for similar enterprises in other studies of Judaism in various cultural contexts. From reviews of the previous volumes: "This collection reflects the state of contemporary scholarship and its struggle to understand and thoughtfully reconstruct Jewish culture in late antique Palestine. It belongs in all specialized Judaica libraries and in research libraries that collect deeply in classical civilization." Steven Fine in Religious Studies Review 3 (1999) vol. 25, p. 331f.

This volume continues the studies on the most important source of late antique Judaism, the Talmud Yerushalmi, in relation to its cultural context. The text of the Talmud is juxtaposed to archaeological findings, Roman law, and contemporary classical authors. The attitude of the Rabbis towards main aspects of urban society in the Mediterranean region of late antiquity is discussed. Hereby Rabbinic Judaism is seen as integrated in the cultural currents prevalent in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. From reviews of the first volume: "The essays in this volume do not seek to establish a global approach to the task, or any general methodological principles. Caution is everywhere apparent. ... This is an excellent beginning, and more is promised. It would be good if this initiative prompted more Talmudic scholars to take the Greek background of Palestinian rabbinism seriously, and finally put paid to the tendency to consider it as in some way separated from or in conflict with late antique Hellenism." N.R.M. De Lange in Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek Studies Winter 1998/99, no. 23, p. 24

Taking a fresh look at what the Greeks and Romans thought about Jews and Judaism, Peter Schafer locates the origin of anti-Semitism in the ancient world. Judeophobia firmly establishes Hellenistic Egypt as the generating source of anti-Semitism, with roots extending back into Egypt's pre-Hellenistic history. A pattern of ingrained hostility toward an alien culture emerges when Schafer surveys an illuminating spectrum of comments on Jews and their religion in Greek and Roman writings, focusing on the topics that most interested the pagan classical world: the exodus or, as it was widely interpreted, expulsion from Egypt; the nature of the Jewish god; food restrictions, in particular abstinence from pork; laws relating to the sabbath; the practice of circumcision; and Jewish proselytism. He then probes key incidents, two fierce outbursts of hostility in Egypt: the destruction of a Jewish temple in Elephantine in 410 B.C.E. and the riots in Alexandria in 38 C.E. Asking what fueled these attacks on Jewish communities, the author discovers deep-seated ethnic resentments. It was from Egypt that hatred of Jews, based on allegations of impiety, xenophobia, and misanthropy, was transported first to Syria-Palestine and then to Rome, where it acquired a new element: fear of this small but distinctive community. To the hatred and fear, ingredients of Christian theology were soon added-a mix all too familiar in Western history.